Google Will Finance Enhanced Geothermal

Any company that invests its own money in alternative energy is to be congratulated, not trivialized, but it should be based upon economics and true science, not pseudo-MMGW hysteria. New turbine and wind blade designs now pull more energy from lower speeds, making various alt energy schemes more reliable and operating for longer periods. Team the alt energy with natural gas or clean coal generation and we generate more, consistant power. Most of this can happen if the government GETS OUT OF THE WAY and quits subsidizing fuel from food; opens up the shale oil land for development, gets states to open up off-shore oil sites, and allows drilling in ANWR. Government regs slow down or prevent private generation of power.

Randy Dutton of WA 2:59PM March 17, 2008

The US should be spending billions to develop EGS as quickly as possible. It is the only clean solution that can actually replace coal for generation of baseload power we can depend on. Since most of the action goes on underground, it has much less visual impact than wind and solar and it is solid and dependable. Because solar works mainly during about 5 hours midday, it takes 5 megawatts of solar capacity to generate the same number of kilowatt-hours per year as 1 megawatt of geothermal. It takes 3 MW of wind to do the same job because the ratings are for peak conditions. On a bad weather month both can fall to a fraction of their rated power. Geothermal is continual and dependable, often achieving 95% capacity factor. Geothermal plants are cheap in the long run because they require no fuel and produce no pollution. Heat inside the earth is continually replenished by atomic decay. We need a Manhattin Project approach to jump start geothermal development instead of wasting billions on unworkable programs like "clean coal" and hydrogen which can never work.

Thomas R Blakeslee of CA 11:07AM March 15, 2008